To Protect a Prince
by Mysterious-little-person
Summary: The Avenger's take initiative against the villain Loki but at what cost? What has the mysterious God of Mischief been hiding? And what is Thor going to do about it? Post Avengers movie  slight AU . Elements of  Loki/Sigyn Tony/Pepper Thor/Jane Darcy/? Will be from many different characters point of view.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own Thor or any Marvel characters.

Hey! So this is set sometime after the future Avenger's movie with my own personal take on what the ending will be like. I hint at it in this chapter but will go into more detail about it later. If you have any questions, thoughts, ideas, and/or edits please feel free to let me know. I am still in the planning stages with this one so any ideas will be taken into account and may wind up in here!

Enjoy!

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><p>It was Steve's idea really.<p>

He had been hanging around base talking about his days fighting Red Skull for a week now. Apparently it was the anniversary of his plane crash and he was truly hating the idea that he couldn't get drunk. So he decided to tell anyone with an ear something about his past. In short, everyone had been avoiding the manic Boy Scout for days now.

But it was something he said to Tony one day (who had been halfway through a bottle of scotch at the time) that really started it.

"_You know, if I'd have only known where Red Skull was hiding earlier I would have gone after him before he ever had a chance to put anymore plans in motion. We knew he was a bad guy already! So why wait until he did something that we had to hunt him down for?"_

Those first few words haunted Tony for days afterwards. Why didn't they just hunt down known criminals and take them in? Why wait?

Why **wait?**

That's when it struck him. It had been a few years since the last time they had heard from Loki but word was that he was living on Earth. Living on the very planet that he tried to-and almost did- destroy.

Now, Loki did have some sort of deal worked out with his brother but that still didn't excuse him of his past crimes now did it? No! In fact, he was living the dream of being able to be a villain then when he got defeated he could just say a few words to his brother and then just walk away.

So here they were. Nick Fury's merry band of supers he called The Avengers. The Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, Thor, and Ironman who were all part of a larger organization called SHIELD. Here they were in Rockie Mountains surrounding a good sized cabin in the middle of nowhere. Freezing their butts off.

"Did I mention I'm wearing all metal? And metal is COLD! Especially _in_ the cold!"

An already angry eye patch wearing man looked over at the whining man in the metal suit.

"Stark. Shut up," was all he said as he pulled out his radio.

"Agent Coulsen, we're in position to move in. Over."

"Rodger that. B team is suited up and awaiting orders. Over."

"Alright let's move!"

With this the scattered team moved in. Coulsen was heading a small black ops unit that would have a med team and an extraction team at standby for if things got ugly. He wasn't too far away but far enough that Loki would pick up on all the movement. Bruce had opted to sit this one out as he was still having difficulty controlling his transformation and was instead waiting back at base to give medical assistance if more than field medicine was necessary. He had also just finished building Loki's containment unit this morning, thus the reason the Team had decided to move in now.

The plan was relatively simple. Fury would be conducting the whole thing from the side to keep everybody moving. Thor and Tony would make a lot of noise and chaos and draw Loki out as well as distract him. While this was happening Natasha and Hawkeye would try to down him from two different locations (Natasha would be down on the ground in the cover of the forest and Hawkeye would be up on a mountain perch as a sniper should be). Naturally bullets and arrows and whatever else they fired would effect the god but hopefully all this combined would give Captain America, who would be hiding in the nearby woods) the opening needed to knock their opponent unconscious.

Naturally, most plans don't go accordingly. Especially with this group. That's why when Thor and Tony began calling to the god and setting off bombs to pull him out everyone was surprised when the Ice Price actually came outside. Furious as they come to boot. And when Loki was genuinely distracted by Clint and Natasha's bullets no one was more surprised then the shooters themselves. In fact, it was almost a relief when one of the ice monsters Loki had created out of the snow actually crashed into Tony and sent him spiraling out of control. Thor had quickly went to aid his comrade leaving Loki time to sense Captain America just in time to stop him from knocking him out. Steve would tell you later that Loki had a 'mad dog' glint about his eyes as he ripped the rounded shield from his arm and sent it into Steve's body making the giant super soldier collide into the wall behind him, smacking his soft leather helmet directly.

Then something really strange happened. Steve's radio went off right as Loki went to go hunt down Natasha.

Static. Then, "I have movement towards the back of the house. Over."

Hawkeye's voice was as calm as ever even over the radio static.

Then, Loki had taken off running. Not towards the back though, he ran directly into the treeline in front of his home.

In the wake of this Steve looked up just in time to see a battered looking Ironman with half his armour gone from his face mask, hovering in front of the house with his forearm extended out in front of him.

"No one messes with the face."

Then he launched one of his missiles straight at Loki's retreating back.

The last thing Steve remembered before finally succumbing to unconsciousness was hearing the whistle of the rocket through the air and the sight of Thor standing on the ground, looking at something he held in his hands.

It was hours before Coulsen's team would have time to do a perimeter of the house. They had to get Clint off his cliff first and then half the med team was occupied with Tony while the other half was occupied with Steve. Sometime in between this the black ops team had Loki fitted with a gas mask with NO2 in it should he decide to wake anytime soon as well as strapping down his hands and feet. Then a helicopter with a small holding tank would be used to transport him back to base where Bruce was waiting with his newest invention. Soon after Loki was being loaded up, Natasha finally appeared from the treeline. She was not surprisingly shot by one of her own bullets when the villain had put up some sort of shield early on. The med staff had taken one look at her side would before putting her on Loki's transport as in would be getting her back to base quicker than the rest. She put up a protest saying that Steve's wounds were much worse but since Steve was already showing signs of healing Natasha was forced to leave. Fury left too so he could oversee the arrival of their newest prisoner. That just left Steve, Tony, Clint, and Coulsen's team left on the mountain (Thor had flown off after his brother's transport still holding whatever it was he had found in the snow close to his chest). Finally, after almost everyone had left, did Coulsen send his team on a search of the house and perimeter.

Twenty minutes later a soldier came back out of the house.

"Sir, you better take a look at this."

The three remaining Avengers took one look at each other then Coulsen before deciding to follow (Steve was already okay to walk and Tony was just bruised up).

The soldier led them through the house at a sedate pace past the other soldiers working the area down. Furniture was being upturned papers were being gone through with careful photographs being taken of everything found. He didn't lead them to a lab or a workspace though. He led them to a bedroom.

A child's bedroom.

A boy's bedroom to be exact.

Before this really had a chance to set in for the four men surveying the room a call went up on all the radios.

"We've got a situation outside. Possible hostiles, at least one seemingly armed holed up in a tool shed to the back of the property. We need back up out here now. Over."

And just like that chaos came back.

All of the well trained soldiers from inside the house went pouring out into the area needed. Clint went with them sneaking up onto the roof of the house so he could get a vantage point if needed. Steve and Tony merely waited long enough to put on their respective headgear (even though Tony's was badly damaged) before following.

The soldiers had already set up a perimeter when they arrived an judging by the terse expressions on their faces they were not happy with something.

Knowing this could be one of Loki's tricks set in place to kill them all Tony set one of this missiles ready to launch. At the same time Steve made sure to take control of the situation and make sure all the soldiers were out of the blast radius. It was Coulsen though, who stopped them. The look of utter shock and enlightenment on the unflappable agent was enough to make any who knew him stop and stare.

"Coulsen?"

Slowly and tentatively, the SHIELD Agent walked up towards the door to the tool shed.

"We mean you no harm. Please, let us help you. If you have a weapon drop it by the door. Please, let us help you to safety!"

A muffled sob was heard and a full minute later the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.

Coulsen motioned everyone to stay back as he slowly opened the door to reveal what or rather who lay inside.

"Well," Tony said as he caught a glimpse of the 'hostile', "This is certainly not what I expected to see up here."

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><p>Cliff! Sorry just an idea that sprang to mind. Let me know what you think!<p>

Who do you think is hiding? Why? What's going to happen to Loki? Thor?

Reviews make me update quicker!

Thanks for reading


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everybody! I seemed to get a lot of hits on this telling me there is at least some interest so I'm trying to update quicker.

Quick thanks to **The Phantom Dragon, LoneAngel666, AnnaDruvez, diane** and **korilian** for reviewing!

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><p>The woman was hunched against the back wall. She was shaking and her eyes, though quite red and frightened, stared defiantly back at them. Her knees were drawn up to her chest where she clutched protectively at a large bundle of blankets. It was immediately apparent that she had run out here without a thought to herself as her feet were bare and she had grabbed a coat that was obviously meant for a man but instead of wearing it she was wrapping it around her bundle.<p>

It was only once Coulson started walking inside the shed did Tony realize that said bundle had a small, light blue hat on top.

"Is that-?"

"Yes." Hawkeye quickly cut off Tony's question.

"Oh my goodness."

Steve said it for all of them and each of them knew it.

Coulson kept moving slowly towards the frightened female. He wasn't it his suit for once and was decked out like the rest of the soldiers in battle-black armour and a standard issue (for SHIELD agents anyway) AR rifle. He slowly pushed it behind his back and held his hands in what he hoped was a non-threatening manner.

The woman reacted only by clutching tighter to the baby.

"I mean you no harm. Please. Let us get you out of here. We'll protect you, I promise."

Coulson finally reached the woman who looked like she was doing her best not to bolt. He reached out a hand as if to help her up just patiently waiting for her to come to grips with what was going on.

"We can get care for you and your son ma'am. Please. We can help." As soon as he said son the woman seemed to come to a decision. Grasping the waiting agents hand she was hauled to her feet. She proudly tilted her head back and pushed her precious bundle into Coulson's surprised arms.

"His name is Erik."

And then the woman promptly collapsed.

Steve rushed in quickly to check on the fallen woman but found her asleep. The remaining med team rushed to Steve's side as he carried the fallen woman out and inside the now abandoned home. He was closely followed by a still baby carrying Coulson and his fellow team mates who all decided to have their own look about the house. Setting down the woman on a couch in what looked to be a living room Steve barely had time to react when Coulson appeared behind him. He had somehow decided that before wandering, he should hand young 'Erik' to Steve saying only, "You're more of the family type."

It was a Kodak moment to be sure. On one side of the vast living room space scurried a team of medics fresh out of training surrounding a small woman on a sofa and on the other side sat Captain America holding what looked to be a two year old. Said Captain had spent so much time away from babies and women in general that to hold one was a completely new experience, which probably explained why he was currently in a staring contest with afore mentioned kid.

The boy was obviously Loki's son. His bright green eyes couldn't be mistaken anywhere else. He may a slightly warmer skin tone then his father and definitely had a better smile but he had that same dark shade of hair to match the Prankster God's. The kid couldn't have been older than two. At most. He was just so small and innocent and well, not at all like Loki.

Steve couldn't help but keep glancing at the woman too. She _could_ have been the child's mother but then again she could not be too. Her skin _was _warmer than Loki's but then again so was everyone in this room. Her hair wasn't dark at all but the boy could have easily gotten that from his father. In fact, her hair was a bright blond colour that fell off the couch in waves and reminded Steve of the sun. And her eyes! Beautiful brown eyes that could swallow the soul. Not to mention her bright red lips, slightly chapped from biting them as she must have been doing when running from-

Steve could have smacked himself. '_Please_ don't say that I'm starting to feel attracted to who might very well be the mother of Loki's son,' He thought. 'Besides, she's probably terrified of you.'

"Who's terrified of you? Besides Ole Hitler of course," Tony laughed at his own joke.

The Captain nearly lept out of his seat but only barely restrained himself remembering he was holding a kid. A _kid!_ Since when did Captain America become a babysitter for sociopaths children?

"Tony! Jeez do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

"Only if it makes you frazzled oh Captain my Captain," once again Tony laughed at his little joke. He loved messing with the 90 year old virgin sometimes. Although, as Pepper pointed out, it really was too easy sometimes.

"I'm not frazzled! I just- In case you haven't noticed I'm hold a kid right now and I'm trying to focus on him," Steve stage whispered.

"Yeah, a kid who might be the nephew of our resident numskull. I can see that."

"Might be the nephew?"

"Yeah I've just been having a look around and judging by the fact that there's a full on kid's bedroom plus food in the kitchen and not to mention the toys scattered-"

"Tony!"

"What? It's not polite to cut people off you know! Jesus Captain Oblivious, get a clue!"

Tony just received a glare from Steve who then bobbled the sleeping infant upwards towards Tony's face. Tony, finally, actually looked at the boy before coming to the same conclusion Steve did.

"So that's actually Loki's kid."

"Yes, I seem to have come to the same conclusion."

Both men jumped as Clint spoke. That man could really move stealthy when he wanted to.

Unfortunately Steve's jump awoke the small child who immediately began to cry. Or shriek as Tony called it. Within seconds Steve was relieved of the bundle by the only female member of the remained soldiers. She muttered something about 'even women in the military' before glaring at Steve and walking to the next room. Efficiently cutting off the sound. All three Heroes let out sighs of relief as their ears finally stopped ringing.

"You were saying Hawkeye?"

"I've also figured out who's baby this is and I must say I'm not quite surprised."

"You're not?" Steve asked.

"Not at all. He has been off grid for the past few years and yet, he's still living on Earth. So I figured there had to be some reason for him to want to stay here even with the knowledge that if we ever caught him we'd imprison him. A woman seems just like the kind of reason to stay."

Steve nodded as if this seemed perfectly natural and understandable to him but Tony just rolled his eyes. Love. It made him feel icky all over.

"Sirs?" One of the med team soldiers now quietly approached their group. "We're afraid the woman you found has suffered some sort of trauma. She has not awakened yet so we've decided to try to get her to base to figure out what's going on."

"Yes, of course. Why're you telling us?" Tony always seemed to be the most talkative.

"Because the last helicopter touched down over a mile from our location and you three have your radios hooked up to the same frequency as Agent Coulson and he has to give the go ahead to move the helicopter. Detailed enough or should I go on?"

Though the last bit should have come off as sarcastic it was delivered in such a flat tone that Tony really couldn't tell.

"Agent Coulson? Repeat, Agent Coulson? We need a go ahead to move the last helicopter closer to the site for patient boarding. Over." Hawkeye had one hand on the earpiece while he waited idly for a reply.

"Copy that. Copper landing in five. Over."

"Thank you." The medic then turned and walked away.

The helicopter landed and the last remaining agents loaded up including the possible mother and Loki's son.

Loki's _son_.

_Loki's _son.

Oh god.

It hit Tony then.

"We just raided the house of an enemy who by all accounts has been quiet and dare i say peaceful over the past few years and we are now taking his son and his baby's mama back to base with us who were probably happy here to begin with. Oh and we very nearly blew them up by the way. We nearly murdered a kid and an innocent."

Clint and Steve both looked away from the commotion outside to observe Tony. Though once it hit the both of them even Clint had the grace to frown.

This was not going to be good.

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><p>So what'd you think? I hope I didn't get too OOC with some of the scenes but since I never read the Avengers comics it's hard for me to pick up on their personality traits.<p>

What else did you think? Is it lawful for them to just raid the house of someone or should they have just left the potentially violent super villain to himself? What is your take?

Your reviews are very helpful and since I am still in the process of writing this (its not saved on a computer file somewhere) I do take your thought into account. In other words, if you desperately want it to go somewhere let me know and i can probably make it happen.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry it's been so long! This has been a long time coming and hopefully I'll put in a new chapter soon after this one so keep an eye out for it!

xxx

The Shield base was in uproar.

Not only had the Avengers just got back from a mission involving a crazed super-villain (always a cause for busy Agents) but they had brought said villain into custody (a true anomaly).

The helicopter ride back had been mostly silent but the noise had started as soon as they had touched down around two hours ago and hadn't stopped yet. The only break Tony had been given was when he went to go take off his suit but even then he was only given time to get out of the actual armour before being ushered back to the meeting room where the other Avengers waited. Clint was still wearing his black gear and carrying his boy and Steve had only managed to set down his shield and helmet in his room. Natasha walked in about the same time Tony did wearing a sling but still in her catsuit. If Tony were in any better mood he would have commented on her ability to get the suit on and off with a hurt arm but nobody was in the mood for jokes.

Bruce and Thor walked into the room a step ahead of Fury and Coulson to complete the team. All four had serious expressions on their faces and no one spoke while they were seated at the meeting table.

Tony knew he had been wishing for silence but this was of the uncomfortable variety and the billionaire was not a fan.

"Well..!"

"Shut it Stark." Fury didn't look to the Ironman before gesturing to Coulson to speak for him.

"As you are all aware, at approximately one o'clock Eastern time the terrorist known as Loki was taken into custody after a government funded agency planned out a mission in which to do so as an act of surprise at his current residence. The terrorist was then forcibly drugged and locked in Dr Banner's containment facility here on base. Would you care to elaborate Doctor?"

"It's basically just a steel tube laid horizontally with a bed inside. It can be filled with small amounts of sleeping gas so as to keep the prisoner calm and has medical openings that the prisoner cannot open from the inside. I honestly built it for myself, you know, just in case, but this should work for a magic user as well. Currently Loki is still unconscious so we have yet to see if this will work but I have every assurance that it will do so."

"So we don't even know if this thing will hold him? Have you ever even tested the thing?"

Bruce glared at Tony for a moment then said in a perfectly controlled voice, "Yes, and worked on me just fine."

Tony shut up at that.

"Thank you Dr Banner. Now, soon after the prisoner was flown back to base my agents began their usual search of the premise to see if we could find any evidence of attack methods. Instead, one of my agents found a child's bedroom."

Natasha and Dr Banner each showed surprise (each in their own small ways, ie Natasha squinted her eyes a bit and Bruce raised an eyebrow) at this information as they had not yet been told of this but not surprisingly Thor's reaction was the strangest.

Instead of the expected outburst from the Thunder God, he merely grimaced. Tony and Steve both caught this and looked at each other in mild surprise before turning their attention back to Coulson who hadn't finished speaking.

"Moments later one of my agents reported a possible hostile situation on the back of the perimeter so I and and the remaining members of my team surrounded the shed the person was hiding in. I happened to be stationed at an area where I could see through a break in the outer wall and saw what the shed contained so I made the decision to proceed forward."

Here Coulson paused and continued the rest of his report looking at the table in front of him. Tony found to his surprise that there was actual in emotion in the normally detached Agents voice as he gave the rest of his report.

"Inside I found a woman holding onto an infant and very obviously scared for her life. She did not appear to be in a right state of mind but when I mentioned that we were there to help she handed me the child and proceeded to collapse from what I am told was a mixture of stress and anxiety caused by the trauma of the situation. The woman has yet to recover and is being monitored in the medical bay under armed guard until we figure out her connection to the prisoner. The child, Erik, is assumed to be the terrorist's son and is currently being watched by Agents Lewis and Hill until such as a time as we figure out what to do with him."

Coulson went quiet at the end of the report and all eyes went to Thor who was shifting uncomfortably in his chair.

Thor merely put a photo in a cracked picture frame on the table in front of everyone.

It showed an image of the woman and Loki staring dreamily into the camera. Loki had a crooked smile on his face and the women was shown wearing a golden hair piece. The shot was only of the neck up but it was clear from the looks on both of their faces that the two in the photo were very much in love. It creeped Tony out.

"She was known as Sigyn before... before she lost her memories. The All-Father put a damper on her power and placed her on Midgard until she regained them as she was only causing strife in the court... She was Loki's wife. I'm told she goes by the name of Isabel these days."

Everyone was stunned by this revelation. Loki had a wife? The crazy super villain with major Daddy issues was married? Sure certain stories from Norse mythology said he was married but as Thor had told the team time and time again, most of the stories were lies or blown way out of proportion.

"What of Erik. Do you have any idea what we should do with him?"

Thor seemed to come out of his memory induced haze and looked Fury dead in the eye.

"Sigyn and my brother had two other children, twin boys, but they have long since left Asgard in pursuit of adventure in the other realms and haven't been heard of in years. I'm told Loki had a way of contacting them so he could check in on them but he never revealed what exactly that was. Asgardian custom dictates that in case such as this the child should go the mother's family but since Sigyn has no living relatives that is not an option. Loki has one other daughter but she is not able to look after children in her realm and I am obviously not suited for such a task. Perhaps my Mother would be willing but since Loki is still banished from Asgard I don't know if it is wise to bring his child there."

"Would not be wise?" Fury questioned.

Thor's face went stoney as he said, "Loki is still considered a traitor and a criminal and if were sent back to Asgard his punishment would be severe. In our culture, the sons and daughters of the guilty are given the same consideration as the parents. I would not send the son my brother back to Asgard only to be used as a bargaining chip against Loki should he ever get out of line. It would be a death sentence for one and a lifetime of guilt for the the other."

"That's barbaric!" Steve shouted as he stood up and looked for all the world like he was ready to go up to Asgard and knock some sense into its people himself.

"Do not forget mortal, that Asgardian laws have been around longer than you can image with a fully united realm that has never been at war amongst itself. Midgard, on the other hand, is divided up in a hundred different ways and even among these divisions there are wars and hatred everywhere you look even with your laws. So tell me, which is better?"

In that moment Thor reminded everyone at the table that he was to the future King of Asgard and never before had he looked so ready for the part.

"Knock it off! This still leaves us back at square one. What to do with the kid?" Fury eyed each member of the team as he said this and when no one seemed to have an answer Tony spoke up.

"He can stay with us. At least until his Momma gets better and we can ship the pair of them off to some small town where you can keep an eye on them."

"Ha! Good one Stark. Seriously, can you imagine? I'd be like that movie Three Men and a Baby except ours would be Two Men, the Best Sniper in the World, a God, the Green Giant, One Super Assassin, and a Super Villain's Baby." Clint seemed to smile as he thought of what the Avenger's Manor would be like with the kid running around. "Not to mention the random agents that always seem to pop in and out the place and the robot butler."

"Okay woah stop there. First of all, Jarvis is not a butler, he's a super powered AI built to assist me. Secondly, how in the world am I classified as an ordinary man? Why not billionaire playboy-"

"Stark! As interesting as listening to you talk about yourself is," here Fury just gave his usual Tony-I-Hate-You glare, "I actually think your idea has merit. And Barton, you have a point to, since none of you seem to have the ability to care for a child and since we have yet to assign Agent Lewis residency here on base I'm moving her in to help look after the child when you all can't."

Each and every one of the Avengers (except Tony who volunteered the idea) started to protest but Fury cut them off with one simple statement.

"Our only other option is to send him back to Asgard. Think of it as a mission; to protect a prince."

xxx

Well?

What'd you think?

Let me know by reviewing! They make me update faster (I set quotas for reviews).

~Mysterious Little Person


	4. Chapter 4

Wow, so the Avengers movie has come out! Finally! A lot has happened so I think at this point it's safe to say that my story deviates slightly from what happens in the movie. Little things like the Hulk chamber and a certain someone's death were left out but I may add in some elements (like the brainwashing of the archer) because it added such great character depth. Also, as far as couples go I think I'm going to go with Tony/Pepper and Thor/Jane and Darcy somebody. Haven't really thought that far ahead but if you think of something let me know!

I also realize I haven't written any sort of Disclaimer for this story yet but do I really need to say it? I mean if I were Joss Whedon or Stan Lee I certainly wouldn't be writing on this site for all the world to see.

Alright enough of the author's note! On with the story!

xxx

The baby was sleeping peacefully in the middle of one of Tony's king size guest room beds at Stark Towers.

Damn thing was so innocent looking it was hard to believe that his father was a crazed sociopath who had killed hundreds if not thousands of people. On a whim.

He wasn't quite sure who had leaked it to the press first (Jarvis was busy looking into it) but somehow word had gotten out that the Avengers now had a child in their care. Nevermind the fact that Enemy Number One was just incarcerated, no the big news story was the running debate on which Avenger had fathered the child.

Tony had scoffed at this. Clearly they didn't have any pictures yet because any idiot with a brain could clearly see the link between Loki and Erik.

But here Tony sat. On baby watch. The rest of the team was gathered in the living room waiting for SHIELD to release some sort of statement because until that was done all members were on lockdown at Stark Tower. Honestly, most of the heroes lived there anyways but a few (Natasha and Steve mostly) did have houses elsewhere that they liked to stay. Thor especially wanted to go visit his scientist girlfriend to tell her the news of her former intern returning and well, Banner had already disappeared in the labs down below.

The baby sneezed. It was a small sound that made his whole body shake and come awake out of his slumber. It startled Tony out of his thoughts to once more focus on the child in front of him. It's big green eyes were looking at Tony as it started to wiggle and kick. Two small arms wrapped in a soft blue onesie reached out towards the bearded man and Tony felt a strange constriction in his chest that had nothing to do with the arc reactor.

Pepper came into the room hours later to find Tony slumped over in an armchair completely passed out holding the tiny child to his chest with the glow of the arc reactor being the only light in the room.

xxx

Darcy Lewis was many things. After the Thor debacle years before she had gotten swept up in a secret government organization and carted off around the world without any warning what so ever. She had only finished her degree by begging SHIELD to let her take online classes. In a short amount of time she became fluent in German and French (she had taken Spanish in high school and college but was only moderate in it at best) and had completed her mandatory weapons classes rather quickly. Combat training had taken longer but had left her in the best shape of her life even if she still wasn't proficient at it but who needed it when she had Ole Faithful? Yes, she had in fact, named her taser.

Then along came the Avengers Initiative. Suddenly Darcy was sent back to the states to help lobby for Fury. When it had failed she was assigned to work in DC as a lobbyist for "special interest groups" that SHIELD supported but since she couldn't publicly say she worked and supported SHIELD it looked as though she was a weapons manufacturer of some sort. Stark Industries would have loved her back in the day! Not long into that stint Thor's psycho brother had come along and created mass chaos and panic (not to mention release an alien race into New York City) before generally disappearing. Suddenly it wasn't so necessary to hide anymore. Superhumans and their powers were cool again (although mutants were still getting a bad rep) and Darcy was once again carted off.

This time she was stationed in LA to keep an eye on Tony Stark (when he decided to live in Malibu and to help head (head!) SHIELD operations over there. Honestly it wasn't even a base in LA it was more of an operation about publicity more than anything. All the agents she was in charge of were working undercover in movie studios to keep any publicity released about the Avengers and anyone involved with SHIELD as pure speculation and completely unrelated to the truth. Who knew that was even a problem?

Darcy had finally gotten used to her new life in SoCal when she got a call. Fury generally didn't contact her directly unless it was for emergencies so when the Director's harsh tones rang out from the fancy Stark Industries smartphone Darcy was immediately on alert.

"You're needed in New York Agent Lewis. Pack your things, you'll be on the red eye leaving tonight. An Agent will pick you up from the airport. I'll debrief you when you get here."

It ended up being a minor incident that she was called back for but Fury seemed to like having her on hand so he set her up in temp living with one of the other agents for a short time.

Yes, Darcy Lewis was many things. Babysitter was not one of them.

"What do you mean I have to help kid sit?"

"Agent Lewis! Calm down! I thought you would enjoy the idea of living in the Avengers Tower."

"Yeah that's fine but the only reason you're doing this is so that I can watch some super villain's kid! And not just any super villain but SHIELD's favorite fallen god! How do we know that he's not going to figure out a way to get out of that cell and come slit my throat in the middle of the night for having to audacity to take his kid away! You do realize that we essentially kidnapped this kid right? We attacked his house and scared his baby mama so bad she fainted and we don't know when she'll wake up and then took the kid to live with us. Do you know what will happen if the press finds out about this? They'll have a field day!" Darcy had finally run out of breath from pacing and shouting at the bald director and had fallen in an undignified heap into an office chair.

"Which is exactly why I put you on the case. Your experience with the media these last few years has given you the necessary experience to learn how to counter and sway the press and combined with your friends in DC you have quite a bit of power over the media and legal matters."

Five years ago Darcy would have cheered to have such a high ranking official give her praise and would have done whatever necessary to make it keep coming.

Two years ago she would have smiled and blushed humbly and be so flattered she would have agreed to anything he said.

Today Darcy merely glared back at the director silently acknowledging that everything he said was true and yet she was not going anywhere.

The staring contest lasted for all of 30 seconds before each seemed to come to a conclusion.

"I'll double your salary."

"I also want access to Jane Foster and Erik Selvig and I want it made clear that I'm not there to be a maid or a nanny and that I have other duties I have to take care of that don't involve," here she shuddered, "diaper changes."

"I foresee no problems with that as Erik Selvig is currently working for us at the Avengers Tower and Jane is still seeing our resident Thunder God. Your official promotion title will be Alpha Team Manager as I feel that will be covering the wide range of duties you will actually be doing. I expect you to give me a report at the end of each day detailing all that goes on in regards to the child and my team and a personal meeting with me at the end of each week. The details of our current agreement will be written up for you to sign by tonight and I expect you to have fully moved in by morning. Anything else?"

"Yeah, I want it understood Fury, that if this all goes to shit and either Loki comes and kills everyone or the Media somehow gets wind of this that it's all on your head. Not mine, not the Avengers, you. Anything else?"

Coulson, who had walked in to escort Darcy out, heard the tail end of that conversation and stared at the young Agent in shock. What had happened to that loud bubbly intern who had whiny for weeks until he had given her her iPod back?

She and Fury had a mini staring contest until Coulson thought it was prudent to clear his throat which only made Darcy grab her things and walk out of the room leaving Coulson to eye his boss from across the room.

"She always had the potential to be great. I saw that right away when you first brought her in here after New Mexico. I put her under the best a brightest we had to offer so she could learn from the best but she always seemed to have time to do what she wanted to do. Did you know she finished her degree while undergoing combat training? Full time online school when normal people are too busy to do much more than sleep and eat in their off hours. And yet she did it. Political Science with several minors. Her spanish grades were terrible but based on what we saw when we sent her to France and Germany she has an aptitude for language; just not classwork it seems. I placed her in difficult situations at different levels and with completely outrageous demands and she excelled at every one of them. She hasn't been in actual combat situations and has yet to be forced to hurt anybody but she has grown beyond even my wildest expectations." Fury seemed to pull himself from his memories and stared Coulson right in the eye.

"She may not understand now but she'll be grateful later. Keep an eye on her Coulson."

"Of course sir."

With that the blank faced Agent walked out of the room and put all thoughts of Darcy Lewis in the back of his mind.

xxx

Okay! So what'd you think? There was a lot of stuff going on in this chapter so I'd appreciate any thoughts and ideas you may have. The more I get the more motivated I am to write!

What did you think of Darcy? I know I completely revamped her character but I picture this story to take place about five or six years after Thor. She has been through a lot and has grown up and I have an idea for her in the future so I wanted to see how she started. There is also a reason for why she is the one in charge of baby Erik and living in the Avengers Tower but that will be revealed later.

Hang in there readers! Sigyn will wake up soon but will she have her memories of her life with Loki or will she remember who she is? What happened to make her lose her memories in the first place and how did she reconnect with the villain in the first place?

Next chapter: Sigyn's story and Darcy's move in.

Review!

~Mysterious Little Person


	5. Continue?

**Hear me out!**

So this is embarrassing…

First and foremost I want to say thanks for reading my stories.

Secondly, IF YOU WANT THEM CONTINUED LET ME KNOW!

The explanation for the above remark is simple; I made the switch to AO3 about a year ago and only transferred over my completed stories. Since then, I've gradually lost interest in my account and after a while completely forgot I still had a few unfinished pieces.

I'M STILL WILLING TO FINISH!

In fact, I've gotten much quicker at updating and if anybody is still interested in these I will have the next few chapters up within days and all finished within two months. That's my promise to you! Just leave a comment on either this chapter or PM me. Even just putting this on story alert will let me know that people still want to see it finished.

Terribly sorry I have to be one of _those_ authors but again I can totally finish it if I know people are going to read it.

I still love you all and if you've read all of this and not just clicked out as soon as you saw an author's note instead of a new chapter than you are an angel and deserve cupcakes. Or angel food cake with strawberries on top.

Thank You so much,

~MLP


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